Hello, My IT team will not load Arduino on computer lab computers. Says they would need to do an individual download as software is user specific. Went to use Arduino on flash-drives, IT says can not do this as drivers are user specific and would need to be on computers , not flash drives. Says students would then have to sit as same computer week after week as drivers would be assigned per student specifically i.e. drivers would not be just on system where after log in everyone can use. I said this would not be a problem as students can sit in front of same system. But they said, moving forward, they would again have to reload these drivers (for each specific students moving forward, every class they would again have to reload divers specific to a user so not going to happen. What options do I have, I thought that Arduino on a flash-drive was a good work around, but now finding out drivers are user specific and not going to happen, are drivers user specific? How to run Arduino with these limitations? Or how to get IT on board so that IT does not feel there is not going to be a security breach?
How about using the Arduino Web Editor? That one needs no installation.
Students might need to use their own personal laptops.
This may be a case of needing to go through your managerial team to develop a solution. IT should be a service supporting the curriculum needs of the college and an Arduino lab is certainly an important tool for teaching embedded computing.
-Bill
Thanks Bill,
I agree this is an important tool. I am going to reach out to the managerial team.
Thank you.
Hello, Thank you this may be a good workaround. To be clear no drivers or any software installation? I will look into this further thanks again for the great suggestion!
Hi YellowDog,
This class is largely adult learners. I think maybe one students has ever brought a laptop to class. I am not sure this will be possible per students not having this hardware (laptops) to bring in.Thank you for offering this workaround suggestion!
I attempted to use the cloud application but was prevented by the need to Install the Arduino Cloud Agent. I do believe I will see problems with IT not willing to install this Install the Arduino Cloud Agent per their same reasoning they previously offered. Thanks again for providing a possible workaround, appreciate your solution and the effort to help us get through this road block.
You may have already tried this but if you could get IT to install the drivers for all users on the PC’s that will be in use in your lab, Arduino has directions for making a “portable” version of the IDE that runs on a flash drive.
https://docs.arduino.cc/software/ide-v1/tutorials/PortableIDE/
I’ve not tried this with the 2.x version of Arduino but apparently the .zip version will run from a flash drive.
You didn’t mention which drivers you needed. IT shouldn’t be worried about FTDI drivers if that’s what you’re after, those are already certified by Microsoft as safe to install. I’m leery of the CH340 drivers, those have always seemed a bit sketchy to me. Unfortunately it seems everyone is going to the CH340 rather than sticking to FTDI, Prolific or Silicon Labs. I know they cost more but drivers seem much more stable for those and come from trusted sources.
Hi YellowDog, this was going to be the way we were going. I have bought the flash-drives. It then thought they would need to have the drivers installed to a specific user, they then said they would need to keep doing this for every class and they said not going to happen. Looks like they do not want to keep coming back and do not want to set a precedence. To be clear are the drivers attached to a user or could they be just added to a system, and any user who logs in can gain access to the drivers or is this as IT suggests that is the drivers will be specific to a user log in?
As far as I know any installed driver is available to any user.
Im not sure how your IT team has your computers setup though, its possible they wipe the entire machine and relode it for any new login. That would complcate drivers because they would be deleted everytime someone logs out.
Hopefully your management can work out a solution with IT that works for everyone.
Hi YellowDog,
You seem to have some good knowledge about the different ways IT can set up a system that can be a factor in needing the drivers to be attached to a specific user. I appreciate your insights and thoughts on this. Thank you for helping me understand.